Very strange day. Finished reading Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, which left me despondent for much of the day. What happened in the second half of the book was inexplicable. It brought back all the painful memories and trauma that I experienced while in New Orleans post Katrinia, including hearing one man, who was unable to sleep because of hearing looting and gunshots all night long saying to me, "Although not easy, I can live thru the trials and tribulations of nature's naturally ocuring events like hurricanes, breached levies and flooding but what I can't understand or live with is man's inhumanity to man."

Flipping thru tv channels tonight I came upon the movie, Everything is Illuminated. I had read the book by Jonathan Safron Foer and seen the movie once. Twice is better...but even heavier. It is about a young man's search for his family roots in the Ukraine. Once it ended, I checked my emails. My sister-in-law directed me to the work of Kseniya Simonova, a Ukrainian artist who just won Ukraine's version of "America's Got Talent." She uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and "sand painting" skills to interpret Germany's invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII. Viewing Simonova's work couldn't have been more timely or potent.